Japan Googled What? Google Trends for Japan, 2014

Looking at the hottest Google keywords for the year can give you a good insight into a country. For example, in the motherland, some of the top keywords were “Game of Thrones,” “How to wear a scarf,” and “Ebola symptoms.” God bless America.

Of course, the next thing to do would be turn an eye to my country of residence: Japan.

Google Hot Trends, Japan, 2014

The Google Japan 2014 trending list brings back a lot of memories. My coworker talking about their kid loving the anime Yokai Watch; Joking with friends that we were going to get dengue fever every time one of us got bitten by a mosquito; Seeing the look of surprise on friends’ faces when they found out that “Ana to Yuki no Joou (Ana and the Ice Queen)” is called “Frozen” in the US; and watching in horror on TV as footage of the erupting Mt. Ontake was shown again and again.

Of course, this wasn’t the only trending category. Let’s take a look at another.

Google Trending Characters, Japan, 2014

Doraemon (robot cat character from the long-running hit anime of the same name)

Jibanyan (ghost cat character from the new anime, Yokai Watch)

Funasshi (the very unofficial mascot of Funabashi City, Chiba Prefecture)

Pikachu (the most famous character from Pokemon)

Kumamon (the official mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture)

Google Trending Ramen, Japan, 2014

ramen burger

ramen festival

rapid ramen

paris ramen week

ramen flavored oreos

I’m actually not sure what the the ramen list was about; the Japanese Google trends page is a little sparse compared to some other countries. With that, I’ll leave you with ramen flavored oreos (are these a real thing?).